I don't do much of introducing myself; It is very difficult to describe myself to people. In a sense, I rather let my personality speak for itself. For the most part I would describe myself as a student-athlete, but other than that I'm a person who loves summer time and lots of sun. As for being a student, I have high goals of succeeding above average grades and also taking challenging classes that force me to be more creative than usual. Generally I keep my grades to mostly A's and a couple of B's, keeping my GPA high and manageable. One good thing that I can say that saves me every time school gets hard is being blessed with such an attitude that won't allow myself to be satisfied with an average grade; I absolutely love it! I find it easier to be an athlete when I have that attitude that helps me stay active and on top of things. As far as being an athlete, I love sports. When I hear the word "sports" I hear my name too. I don't think I can live without playing a sport. I find myself to be very active and energetic and playing sports definitely fulfills those callings. I play basketball, which is my all time favorite sport, volleyball, and for three years I ran track. Most importantly I take basketball to heart because I am a decent player who has a lot of potential to become great; Not only is it important because of my abilities, but it also teaches many life lessons that could help influence young kids/adults like me to handle life in an adultly manner. Basketball has become very welcoming to me as the years pass all because of the great support from family and having a coach who cares plenty about each individuals success. This has all brought me a long way in my high school career.
Other than school and sports, I love the summer with lots of swimming and tanning! I also enjoy going on family vacations and spending time with teammates and close friends. Usually I will spend the summer working out and swimming but this summer I will be spending it rehabbing, getting my foot back in shape for sports. I look forward to getting healthy since I am so called "injury prone", only the worst thing to be. Although my summer will probably pass me by, I plan to get prepared for my senior year and make the most of it! For fun, I love to dance and sing! For 12 years I danced at Betty Hill Studios dancing the ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical. I enjoyed that a lot but soon I grew out of it. I still stick around the Isiserettes Drill Team when I am not busy with sports. Since this drill team is a family business, I was born into it and learned to love the dancing style.
Getting a little more detailed, I live with my parents Anna and Jay and I have a younger brother by the name of Jayden. My mom is full Mexican and my dad is African-American which make me and my brother "blaxican" in my eyes. We have a really close family that celebrates and parties together all the time. I come from a very bubbly, intelligent, and respectful family. When my family gets together there is always some type of comedy show and much laughter to the party. I can say the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree because I get it honestly. Although we love to party, the way we all were raised, we are taught to be respectful at all times because the more you give respect, sometime in life it will come back in return. I learned from a very wise family and see myself going far in the future.
Now, going into second semester, I want to be able to say I became a better writer. I also want to say my comprehension and understanding of the passages and books we read has gotten better. For me, it is hard to really say what I look forward to because I don't see myself as a strong writer nor a person who likes to read so this class is a challenge for me. In the long run I believe that this class will benefit me but as for now I need to catch onto being more creative with my thoughts. Once I learn that I know I will be able to achieve easier.
- Sierra Singleton
Personal Reflection on Topic of Inquiry(posted January 27 -- Peer Response January 29)
When I was told that we needed a topic of interest that made you want to go into the deeper meaning or deeper problem, I was stuck on how I was going to come up with the topic and didn't know what really sparked for me. It's hard for me to find things that are interesting and grab my attention because I'm more of an athlete than anything so all the vocabulary I speak or hear is all sport terms. this time I decided to get away from sports and think about my background and the importance behind it.
This idea first came from when we read a passage in class about Mexicans who migrated to the United States. They were being mistreated and looked down upon just because they are from somewhere else. I feel that this is wrong and people who think it's okay are selfish people who fail to notice they are human just like the rest of us. Also, I think about my mom and how she is mistreated in her work place because they feel Mexicans are dumber than the average American person. This brings anger to me because this is who I am and these people think it's okay to disrespect the life of someone just because they aren't originally from the United States. What people fail to notice is that they have to live, eat, work, and earn money just like they do; They have the same responsibilities that they do; All in all, they deserve another chance at life but we fail to welcome them and let them attempt to succeed.
My topic of inquiry is based off of immigration, misjudgment of culture and race, and societys outlook on immigration. For me being part African-American and part Mexican I find it to be a great topic that brings out my pride in my race and culture. My question is why do people blame immigrants for taking jobs they need or for making money they want? Why so quick to judge a person from somewhere else and say they don't deserve a second chance at life? Why can't we be a support system to all the different people in the world that are trying to make the best of themselves?
Peer Response: I love the idea of your topic. No body ever really thinks about the problems that immigrants face when coming to a new country. It can be very challenging dealing with the ignorance of people. I know that at very rare times during 2001, our family felt a touch of that, but it's never been a huge problem and vie never thought about it. This topic will really open the eyes of some of the more niave people.
Rough Draft Definition (posted February 3 -- Peer Response February 5)
Sierra Singleton
Mr. Johnson
AP Lang
February 3, 2012
Immigration It seems that anywhere you go or look, you can always run into a person that is not from the U.S. We simply call those people immigrants. An immigrant is a person who is born in a specific country and relocates to another country for permanent residence. These people usually are of different culture, language, and race than the people in the U.S., but since immigration has become a popular “problem”, some people may not differ at all. Immigrants often experience mistreatment, quick judgment, and lack of support just because they are different and from somewhere else. People may refer to an immigrant as a “alien”, which is just a harsher way of describing them; Who would want to be referred as an alien? Things that an immigrant may go through are not the greatest but most will deal with the negativity from people and society to survive in the new country they have relocated in.
Most immigrants are put in a situation where societies are against migration and having people in a country that were not originally from there. It seems like a lot of people feel the need to criticize a persons likings or life because they do not speak good enough English for them or cannot meet their expectations of what a person may picture wealthy or attractive. As an immigrant, they may have a strong accent from your original language but when they speak English it is not considered proper. Immigrants are of a different language but why is it so hard to give them credit for attempting to speak English? No one said they had to but as an immigrant it is their responsibility to adapt to the new environment that they are now living in. Every now and then you may hear statements from angered U.S. citizens saying “If you can't speak proper English then go back to where you came from” or “You don't belong here”. Comments like these lead to low self esteem in a person, which is not good from someone who is new to living in a country.
If you think hard about when you first meet a person you will first, or if not first you will eventually wonder what race they are. You will probably compare their skin color to your own in your mind and try to match up what country they look like their from. Yes, they are different in appearance but are they necessarily different? They work, eat, sleep, drink, and breathe just like any other person would, so what makes an immigrant truly different? I guess it is true that now-a-days an immigrant does have to “prove” themselves to others that they are contributing to the laws of the country and trying to live a life like an average American would. Not only do they have to change ways of life but they may have to change or readjust their cultural ways only because Americans unfortunately would not see it as normal. An immigrant has a responsibility of giving themselves a better life and that may include changing some things of the way they used to live.
On their journey to a new country, they have to think of a way of how they are going to support themselves or maybe a family if they have such. Usually when a person migrates to another country they are looking for a better outlook on life and another chance at life. Being an immigrant you may need more schooling to get a decent job or to even have a career, but either way jobs are needed. There seem to be plenty of situations where an American complains of the loss of job selections because immigrants take all the opportunities. If you are smart enough you would know that they worked just as hard as you or maybe even harder to put their name out there for the job. Immigrants have to literally prove themselves and show how committed they are especially if schooling is low. What people fail to know or see is that immigrants lack a support system and need people to encourage them to do better and live better. Again, they are a human being just like all the people that live in this world so they deserve every chance they can get just like us Americans take advantage of what comes to us. As an immigrant it just comes much harder.
Living a different life with a different language and a different culture does not make you different. In society, the outlook on immigrants is that they are originally from a country and try to come to another country to start a life that may ruin the people that were born there. An immigrant is only a person of physical differences from a country migrating to another. Most people will have their opinions but the truth is they are human and should not be mistaken as not “normal” or looked down upon because they are not exactly like the average American. They are only trying to live their life like anyone would want to.
Peer Response: I like the essay. It really goes deeper on how people are treated and the names they can be called. I also like how there is a slight tone of anger to it. It tells me that you you are not only saying it makes you angry in your topic of inquiry, but let's me know in the essay that it does make you mad. I also like how you talk about the reason they come to America and how, even though Americans don't see it, they work just as hard.
I feel like there is some weak vocabulary scattered around that can be changed, for example, in paragraph 4, when talking about how they could use a support system, the phrase 'is that' could maybe be changed and the 'just like all the people' could be a little stringer. Other than that, it's amazing for a rough draft. I really love the topic and you're essay kept me interested throughout the entire thing. Amazing job!
Sources:
-personal experience
-dictionary
Revision Definition (posted February 10 -- Peer Response February 12 )
Sierra Singleton
Mr. Johnson
AP Lang
February 10, 2012
Immigration
It seems that anywhere you go or look, you can always run into a person that is not from the U.S. We simply call those people immigrants. An immigrant is a person who is born in a specific country and relocates to another country for permanent residence. These people usually are of different culture, language, and race than the people in the U.S., but since immigration has become a popular “problem”, some people may not differ at all. Immigrants often experience mistreatment, quick judgment, and lack of support just because they are different and from somewhere else. People may refer to an immigrant as a “alien”, which is just a harsher way of describing them; Who would want to be referred as an alien? Things that an immigrant may go through are not the greatest but most will deal with the negativity from people and society to survive in the new country they have relocated in.
Most immigrants are put in a situation where societies are against migration and having people in a country that were not originally from there. It seems like a lot of people feel the need to criticize a persons likings or life because they do not speak good enough English for them or cannot meet their expectations of what a person may picture wealthy or attractive. As an immigrant, they may have a strong accent from your original language but when they speak English it is not considered proper. Immigrants are of a different language but why is it so hard to give them credit for attempting to speak English? No one said they had to but as an immigrant it is their responsibility to adapt to the new environment that they are now living in. Every now and then you may hear statements from angered U.S. citizens saying “If you can't speak proper English then go back to where you came from” or “You don't belong here”. Comments like these lead to low self esteem in a person, which is not good from someone who is new to living in a country.
If you think about when you first meet a person you will first, or if not first you will eventually wonder what race they are. You will probably compare their skin color to your own in your mind and try to match up what country they look like their from. Yes, they are different in appearance but are they necessarily different? They work, eat, sleep, drink, and breathe just like any other person would, so what makes an immigrant truly different? I guess it is true that now-a-days an immigrant does have to “prove” themselves to others that they are contributing to the laws of the country and trying to live a life like an average American would. Not only do they have to change ways of life but they may have to change or readjust their cultural ways only because Americans unfortunately would not see it as normal. An immigrant has a responsibility of giving themselves a better life and that may include changing some things of the way they used to live.
On their journey to a new country, they have to think of a way of how they are going to support themselves or maybe a family if they have such. Usually when a person migrates to another country they are looking for a better outlook on life and another chance at life. Being an immigrant you may need more schooling to get a decent job or to even have a career, but either way jobs are needed. There seem to be plenty of situations where an American complains of the loss of job selections because immigrants take all the opportunities. If you are smart enough you would know that they worked just as hard as you or maybe even harder to put their name out there for the job. Immigrants have to literally prove themselves and show how committed they are especially if schooling is low. What people fail to know or see is that immigrants lack the support from society as a whole and need people to encourage them to do better and live better. Again, they are a human being and considered "normal" in all new eyes, at least they should be, so they deserve every chance they can get just like us Americans take advantage of what comes to us. As an immigrant it just comes much harder.
Through personal experience, my mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to the U.S. when she was four. It took me awhile to fully comprehend on the fact that I was part Mexican and part African-American. Either way you really look at it now, both races can be thought of as the "trouble making" or "not so smart" races because that is how society may view it, but being Mexican it makes it a little harder. I remember starting to care about my race in the 8th grade; that was when it was popular in my life. While so curious, my mother didn't seem so enthused to answer all the questions I had. That's when I realized her past and present wasn't the greatest. How people viewed her was less than the regular and assumed she wasn't smart as the average. As your parents child you began to feel angered by the situation and want to change the outlook on immigrants. There is no reason to reminisce on the past when they strive to make a better future. Never underestimate the talents of someone you don't know.
Living a different life with a different language and a different culture does not make you different. In society, the outlook on immigrants is that they are originally from a country and try to come to another country to start a life that may ruin the people that were born there. An immigrant is only a person of physical differences from a country migrating to another. Most people will have their opinions but the truth is they are human and should not be mistaken as not “normal” or looked down upon because they are not exactly like the average American. They are only trying to live their life like anyone would want to.
Final Definition (posted February 17 -- Peer Response February 19 )
Immigration
It seems that anywhere one person may go or look, they can always run into a person that is not from the U.S. They are simply called immigrants. An immigrant is a person who is born in a specific country and relocates to another country for permanent residence. These people usually are of different culture, language, and race than the people in the U.S., but since immigration has become a popular “problem”, some people may not differ at all. Immigrants often experience mistreatment, quick judgment, and lack of support just because they are different and from somewhere else. People may refer to an immigrant as a “alien”, which is just a harsher way of describing them; Who would want to be referred as an alien? Things that an immigrant may go through are not the greatest but most will deal with the negativity from people and society to survive in the new country they have relocated in.
Most immigrants are put in a situation where societies are against migration and having people in a country that were not originally from there. It seems like many people feel the need to criticize a persons likings or life because they do not speak good enough English for them or cannot meet their expectations of what a person may picture wealthy or attractive. As an immigrant, they may have a strong accent from their original language but when they speak English it is not considered proper. Immigrants are of a different language but why is it so hard to give them credit for attempting to speak English? No one said they had to but as an immigrant it is their responsibility to adapt to the new environment that they are now living in. Every now and then one may hear statements from angered U.S. citizens saying “If you can't speak proper English then go back to where you came from” or “You don't belong here”. Comments like these lead to low self esteem or depression in a person, which is not healthy for someone who is new to living in a certain country.
If one would think about when they first meet a person they will first, or if not first they will eventually wonder what race they are. One will probably compare an immigrants skin color to their own in their mind and try to match up what country the immigrant looks like their from. Yes, they are different in appearance but are they necessarily different? They work, eat, sleep, drink, and breathe just like any other person would, so what makes an immigrant truly different? I guess it is true that now-a-days an immigrant does have to “prove” themselves to others that they are contributing to the laws of the country and trying to live a life like an average American would. Not only do they have to change ways of life but they may have to change or readjust their cultural ways only because Americans unfortunately would not see it as normal. An immigrant has a responsibility of giving themselves a better life and that may include changing some things of the way they used to live.
On their journey to a new country, an immigrant has to think of how they are going to support themselves or maybe a family if they have such. Usually when a person migrates to another country they are looking for a better outlook on life and another chance at life. Being an immigrant you may need more schooling to get a decent job or to even have a career, but either way jobs are needed. There seem to be plenty of situations where an American complains of the loss of job selections because immigrants take all the opportunities. If you are smart enough you would know that they worked just as hard as you or maybe even harder to put their name out there for the job. Immigrants have to literally prove themselves and show how committed they are especially if schooling is low. What people fail to know or see is that immigrants lack the support from society as a whole and need people to encourage them to do better and live better. Again, they are a human being and considered "normal" in all new eyes, at least they should be, so they deserve every chance they can get just like Americans take advantage of what comes to them. As an immigrant it just comes much harder.
Through personal experience, my mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to the U.S. when she was four. It took me awhile to fully comprehend on the fact that I was part Mexican and part African-American. Either way you really look at it now, both races can be thought of as the "trouble making" or "not so smart" races because that is how society may view it, but being Mexican it makes it a little harder. I remember starting to care about my race in the 8th grade; that was when it was popular in my life. While so curious, my mother didn't seem so enthused to answer all the questions I had. That's when I realized her past and present wasn't the greatest. How people viewed her was less than the regular and assumed she wasn't smart as the average. As your parents child you began to feel angered by the situation and want to change the outlook on immigrants. There is no reason to reminisce on the past when they strive to make a better future. Never underestimate the talents of someone you don't know.
Living a different life with a different language and a different culture does not make a person different. In society, the outlook on immigrants is that they are originally from a country and try to come to another country to start a life that may ruin the people that were born there. An immigrant is only a person of physical differences from a country migrating to another. Most people will have their opinions but the truth is they are human and should not be mistaken as not “normal” or looked down upon because they are not exactly like the average American. They are only trying to live their life like anyone would want to.
Reflection #1 (posted February 20 -- Peer Response February 22)
Reflection:
I think that I had very well thought out topic and that it had great ideas that came out of it. I think that there could have been more examples that could've backed up the idea since I do have a mother that was an immigrant but recently got her citizenship. I know that I need to learn how to get more deeper into my thought process in order to retain the readers attention throughout my essay.
Rough Draft Comparison (posted February 24 -- Peer Response February 26 )
As everyone knows, society has put an emphasis on gender roles and what is expected out of a man and a woman. Most know that women are the ones who are working in the kitchen, taking care of children, and cleaning around the house. Men are most known to be sports fanatics and yard work smart, than known to have a lot of knowledge on doing a women's job. Some people still believe in that way of living, but as time passed, things have changed greatly. Now we may see a man and woman sharing duties as parents to help take care of children or even just simply cleaning around the house. It's not always just a women's or just a man's job; they can be equally distributed between both mother and father who should know how to take care of themselves and/or children, as if they were a single parent.
According to society, we find a woman that is always in the kitchen, taking care of kids and cleaning everything. Back when a woman didn't have any rights, they were stuck being maids and servants, only pleasing other people. Ever since then a woman's worth has been based on the past and what society believed a woman was capable of doing. A woman had a different type of role in life than a man did, but it seemed that a woman had a role that only a woman could understand. One would see a woman as maybe the stay at home mom, who did laundry all day until it was time for the kids to get out of school, then once they got home, the woman would be locked in the kitchen making dinner for the whole family. Now, on top of those jobs, some mothers have to work because they don't have the support to be a stay at home mom. Therefore, women are wearing themselves out by doing so much in one day. Some women are okay with it because it is said to be the women's role, but some feel that they can use more help than what is given. In the end it's just what the person may believe about gender roles and how they will decide to distribute each task.
In my household, one could find my mother cleaning, cooking sometimes, doing yard work, and running my brother and I around to our extra activities. My mom somewhat follows what a women's role is according to society, but then again if she needed that extra help from my father, it wouldn't be a problem. A normal life for my mother is basically working enough hours to help take care of her family, clean when needed, do yard work as a family, cook (not all the time), and take care of my brother and I. She is not alone to do every little thing on her own because it's her role; she gets the help she needs when it's needed whether if it's from my father or my brother and I. Nothing is ever done by one person and one person only. As a family, we all believe that we should help each other out as much as possible, especially my brother and I because it is just a way to show that we work hard to help, which makes it easier for my parents to let us do more extra activities.
On the other hand, men are way different, as society may say. One may see a man as the protector and the one that does all the labor work that is needed to be done. Men are said to be the ones that are sent off to make the money and provide for a family. Back then, men didn't seem to help much with children but to help discipline and care for them. They also weren't educated about how to work in the kitchen or clean; it just wasn't in their nature of things. Some men find it hard and non- manly to do jobs that are meant for a woman, which make it harder for a man to even attempt to try the job. Most men are used to carrying heavy loads and providing for a family, so when opportunities come to men of learning different parts of a women's role, it's hard for a man to accept the challenge.
Again, I find my father to be part of the typical man that society sees a man as, but there are definitely things that make him stand out from the regular man. Yes, my father does do what the regular man would do, but he also has a wide variety of talents that allow him to do more. Sadly, some people say their dad doesn't find himself in the kitchen, but fortunately, my dad is an amazing cook on the grill and in the kitchen. Also, my dad is big on being an athlete because it runs in the family, so he is very supportive when it comes to my brother and I and our activities. Instead of leaving the running around to my mom, my dad is usually the one that does the running around except not so much with me since I have a car now. Other than that, my dad finds it in him to be a disciplinarian and role model for my brother and I and shows that if you put your mind into something, we can do anything with hard work.
There are many differences from how gender roles are played out now then from how they were years ago. Some people still believe in the old way of things, but in today's society I think each gender should have jobs equally distributed between both woman and man.
Peer response: I feel like this doesn't stick to your original topic, which I thought we were meant to stay with, but other than that, I loved the idea of it. I feel like woman don't get the respect they deserve. It's still hard to believe that woman only get 70 cents to every man's dollar. I think this is going to come out very well written and extremely necessarily.
Revision Comparison (posted March 2 -- Peer Response March 4)
As everyone knows, society has put an emphasis on gender roles and what is expected out of a man and a woman. Most know that women are the ones who are working in the kitchen, taking care of children, and cleaning around the house. Men are most known to be sports fanatics and yard work smart, than known to have a lot of knowledge on doing a women's job. Some people still believe in that way of living, but as time passed, things have changed greatly. Now we may see a man and woman sharing duties as parents to help take care of children or even just simply cleaning around the house. It's not always just a women's or just a man's job; they can be equally distributed between both mother and father who should know how to take care of themselves and/or children, as if they were a single parent.
According to society, we find a woman that is always in the kitchen, taking care of kids and cleaning everything. Back when a woman didn't have any rights, they were stuck being maids and servants, only pleasing other people. Ever since then a woman's worth has been based on the past and what society believed a woman was capable of doing. A woman had a different type of role in life than a man did, but it seemed that a woman had a role that only a woman could understand. One would see a woman as maybe the stay at home mom, who did laundry all day until it was time for the kids to get out of school, then once they got home, the woman would be locked in the kitchen making dinner for the whole family. Now, on top of those jobs, some mothers have to work because they don't have the support to be a stay at home mom. Therefore, women are wearing themselves out by doing so much in one day. Some women are okay with it because it is said to be the women's role, but some feel that they can use more help than what is given. In the end it's just what the person may believe about gender roles and how they will decide to distribute each task.
In my household, one could find my mother cleaning, cooking sometimes, doing yard work, and running my brother and I around to our extra activities. My mom somewhat follows what a women's role is according to society, but then again if she needed that extra help from my father, it wouldn't be a problem. A normal life for my mother is basically working enough hours to help take care of her family, clean when needed, do yard work as a family, cook (not all the time), and take care of my brother and I. She is not alone to do every little thing on her own because it's her role; she gets the help she needs when it's needed whether if it's from my father or my brother and I. Nothing is ever done by one person and one person only. As a family, we all believe that we should help each other out as much as possible, especially my brother and I because it is just a way to show that we work hard to help, which makes it easier for my parents to let us do more extra activities.
On the other hand, men are way different, as society may say. One may see a man as the protector and the one that does all the labor work that is needed to be done. Men are said to be the ones that are sent off to make the money and provide for a family. Back then, men didn't seem to help much with children but to help discipline and care for them. They also weren't educated about how to work in the kitchen or clean; it just wasn't in their nature of things. Some men find it hard and non- manly to do jobs that are meant for a woman, which make it harder for a man to even attempt to try the job. Most men are used to carrying heavy loads and providing for a family, so when opportunities come to men of learning different parts of a women's role, it's hard for a man to accept the challenge.
Again, I find my father to be part of the typical man that society sees a man as, but there are definitely things that make him stand out from the regular man. Yes, my father does do what the regular man would do, but he also has a wide variety of talents that allow him to do more. Sadly, some people say their dad doesn't find himself in the kitchen, but fortunately, my dad is an amazing cook on the grill and in the kitchen. Also, my dad is big on being an athlete because it runs in the family, so he is very supportive when it comes to my brother and I and our activities. Instead of leaving the running around to my mom, my dad is usually the one that does the running around except not so much with me since I have a car now. Other than that, my dad finds it in him to be a disciplinarian and role model for my brother and I and shows that if you put your mind into something, we can do anything with hard work.
There are many differences from how gender roles are played out now then from how they were years ago. Some people still believe in the old way of things, but in today's society I think each gender should have jobs equally distributed between both woman and man.
Final Comparison (posted March 9 -- Peer Response March 11)
As everyone knows, society has put an emphasis on gender roles and what is expected out of a man and a woman. Most know that women are the ones who work in the kitchen, take care of children, and clean around the house. Men are most known as the sports fanatics and "yard work" smart, rather than known to have a load of knowledge on performing a women's role. Some people still believe in that way of living, but as time passed, things have changed greatly. Now we may see a man and woman sharing roles as parents to help take care of children or even just simply improving the way they live. It's not always just a women's or just a man's role; they should be equally distributed between both mother and father, who should know how to take care of themselves and/or children, as if they were a single parent.
According to Cliff Notes, a woman is suppose to marry,have children, put her family's welfare before her own, and be nuturing. Back when a woman didn't have any rights, they were stuck being maids and servants, only pleasing other people. Ever since then a woman's worth has been based on the past and what society believed a woman was capable of doing. A woman had a different type of role in life than a man did, but it seemed that a woman had a role that only a woman could understand. One would see a woman as maybe the stay at home mom, who did laundry all day until it was time for the kids to get out of school, then once they got home, the woman would be locked in the kitchen making dinner for the whole family. Now, on top of those jobs, some mothers have to work because they don't have the support to be a stay at home mom. Therefore, women are wearing themselves out by doing so much in one day. Some women are okay with it because it is said to be the women's role, but some feel that they can use more help than what is given. In the end it's just what the person may believe about gender roles and how they will decide to distribute each task.
In my household, one could find my mother cleaning, cooking sometimes, doing yard work, and running my brother and I around to our extra activities. My mom somewhat follows what a women's role is according to society, but then again if she needed that extra help from my father, it wouldn't be a problem. A normal life for my mother is basically working enough hours to help take care of her family, clean when needed, do yard work as a family, cook (not all the time), and take care of my brother and I. She is not alone to do every little thing on her own because it's her role; she gets the help she needs when it's needed whether if it's from my father or my brother and I. Nothing is ever done by one person and one person only. As a family, we all believe that we should help each other out as much as possible, especially my brother and I because it is just a way to show that we work hard to help, which makes it easier for my parents to let us do more extra activities.
On the other hand, men are way different, as society may say. According to Cliff Notes, a man is said to be the financial provider, also, assertive, competitive, independent, and courageous. Men are the ones who will protect when needed and be the stable building block for the family. Back then, men didn't seem to help much with children but to help discipline and care for them. They also weren't educated about how to work in the kitchen or clean; it just wasn't in their nature of things. Some men find it hard and non- manly to do jobs that are meant for a woman, which make it harder for a man to even attempt to try the job. Most men are used to carrying heavy loads and providing for a family, so when opportunities come to men of learning different parts of a women's role, it's hard for a man to accept the challenge.
Again, I find my father to be part of the typical man that society sees a man as, but there are definitely things that make him stand out from the regular man. Yes, my father does do what the regular man would do, but he also has a wide variety of talents that allow him to do more. Sadly, some people say their dad doesn't find himself in the kitchen, but fortunately, my dad is an amazing cook on the grill and in the kitchen. Also, my dad is big on being an athlete because it runs in the family, so he is very supportive when it comes to my brother and I and our activities. Instead of leaving the running around to my mom, my dad is usually the one that does the running around except not so much with me since I have a car now. Other than that, my dad finds it in him to be a disciplinarian and role model for my brother and I and shows that if you put your mind into something, we can do anything with hard work.
There are many differences from how gender roles are played out now then from how they were years ago. Some people still believe in the old way of things, but in today's society I think each gender should have jobs equally distributed between both woman and man. When doing so, not only does it relieve stress, but it also will be more convenient. The way society classifies a man and woman into gender roles has greatly changed, but with time, gender roles can make a run for becoming more equal than they have ever been. Gender roles should not be decided by society; they should be equally shared roles that help ease the life for which one lives.
Peer Response: I love the idea of gender roles. It is a cause that I know isn't talked about, but this topic needs to be. I like how you talked about the stereotypical masculine things woman do and the stereotypical feminine things men do. The grammar and spelling, I think, are much better that the last paper. I don't see as many weak words. I think this is a huge improvement from the last paper. Keep it up. Reflection #2 (posted March 16 -- Peer Response March 25)
Personal Reflection: i feel like i had strong ideas in mind, but didn't know how to express it all in writing. i feel like it could've been stronger with more time and advice. Then again maybe this wasn't the best topic for a compare and contrast paper. I also think that as i keep writing that i start to feel better about what i write and have more confidence in my writing and not saying that my writing is anywhere near good, but i feel that it is improving in time. English is just one of those classes for me that i have to work a little harder than what i work in other classes. Rough Draft Argument (posted April 6 -- Peer Response April 8) Be a Life Saver
There comes a time when death takes over and one life may end. The thought of death is never a want, but one can leave this world knowing they helped one person or multiple people in need. Many people fail to have the knowledge of knowing the number of lives that can be saved by becoming an organ donor. By doing so, “you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” The ratio of it being for every one person, they can save eight lives, sounds impossible, but also brings a tremendous amount of joy to know you can give a sense of rebirth to another person. It’s unfortunate that “thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” Only one person has the power to make a change and be a person to save a life or change a life.
One may not realize the number of people that get added to the list of needing an organ donor. “On average, 18 people die each day because of the shortage of donated organs (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Just by seeing the statistics of the amount of deaths that are taking place can only make a huge impact on how people may view organ donating. Just recently, “in 2010, a total of 6,521 patients died while waiting for organ transplants (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Why make an innocent person wait so long and suffer because you decide that donating organs are not important? Many questions linger in the midst of making the decision to say yes or no. Be the one to challenge oneself to be that hero in someone’s life and help them live another day.
Some may argue that religion and beliefs interfere with being an organ donor. Yes, that is true and it could become a road block in one’s decision making. “In Shinto, the dead body is considered to be impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful (Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 4th ed., 2000.).” Being a part of the Shinto religion, it is believed that messing with a dead body can interfere with the relationship of the person and their loved ones. In this particular situation I can see how one may second guess on becoming a donator or not. Knowing that religion and beliefs are what make a person who they are, it is known to be a legitimate reason of not becoming a donor.
This poem by Robert N. Test expresses all the reason to become an organ donor:
To Remember Me
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain agianst her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
*I am going to add more but have to find other key points on what i want to talk about to support my argument.
Peer response: Wow! When I first saw the title, I was a little stunned, but I love the topic. It really makes me think. I know I've been terrified to think about death and becoming an organ donor and I did it, but I always felt scared. This essay has really made me feel better about the whole situation. I didn't know much about it and this helped. I like how you added in the religious beliefs argument. I had heard that, but not many people wish to address it. I believe that some people get bad looks for not becoming an organ donor, but may not kinow that it's against their religion. This is a great topic and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Revision Argument (posted April 13 -- Peer Response April 15)
Sierra Singleton
AP Language
Mr. Johnson
April 13th, 2012 Be a Life Saver
There comes a time when death takes over and one life may end. The thought of death is never a want, but one can leave this world knowing they helped one person or multiple people in need. Many people fail to have the knowledge of knowing the number of lives that can be saved by becoming an organ donor. By doing so, “you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” The ratio of it being for every one person, they can save eight lives, sounds impossible, but also brings a tremendous amount of joy to know you can give a sense of rebirth to another person. It’s unfortunate that “thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” Only one person has the power to make a change and be a person to save a life or change a life.
One may not realize the number of people that get added to the list of needing an organ donor. “On average, 18 people die each day because of the shortage of donated organs (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Just by seeing the statistics of the amount of deaths that are taking place can only make a huge impact on how people may view organ donating. Just recently, “in 2010, a total of 6,521 patients died while waiting for organ transplants (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Why make an innocent person wait so long and suffer because you decide that donating organs are not important? Many questions linger in the midst of making the decision to say yes or no. Be the one to challenge oneself to be that hero in someone’s life and help them live another day.
Some may argue that religion and beliefs interfere with being an organ donor. Yes, that is true and it could become a road block in one’s decision making. “In Shinto, the dead body is considered to be impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful (Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 4th ed., 2000.).” Being a part of the Shinto religion, it is believed that messing with a dead body can interfere with the relationship of the person and their loved ones. In this particular situation I can see how one may second guess on becoming a donator or not. Knowing that religion and beliefs are what make a person who they are, it is known to be a legitimate reason of not becoming a donor.
A myth that carries out amongst people is that if a doctor was to discover that one is an organ donor that they would not work hard to save their life. This is not true. A professional doctor is there to do their job and fulfill the needs of any patient. Most likely, the doctors that treat patients are not the ones who do the transplants or have anything to do with organ donating. They may not even know that you are a registered donor. Do not fear becoming an organ donor. Yes, it is important that you get the assistance you need, but when that day comes where life is not lived anymore, someone has to take the chance of being a hero to a stranger. For some there isn’t that much time left on the clock. Clocks tick forever, but once the batteries stop, so does life.
This brings me to a movie called Seven Pounds, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith, a tremendous role model for the acting world. This movie explains the ultimate reason of how emotions will feel your entire body with pride and joy that one may have it good, but another cannot see or cannot breathe. Will Smith plays the part of the donor. He is reminded constantly of the accident he caused while texting and takes it upon himself to repay back the lives that he killed, which were his wife and six others. Living with pain and grief, Will Smith finds seven people that are in need of transplants right away and without any intentions, he begins to fall in love with a woman with a severe heart condition. As time passed he realized time is running out and commits suicide by dumping a tub full of jellyfish into an ice bath that he sat in. The organs were donated to seven people that he discovered and to the woman he fell in love with.
The movie gave a sense of courage to know that saving a life is much more than just donating an organ, it has a tremendous effect on the patient. His reasoning behind becoming a donator gave a sense of emotion that persuaded me to continue to be an organ donor. You were given a life to live, so why not help another life live? To save a life is to live a life. So live your life and become a donor to help tackle the list of people that keeps growing.
This poem by Robert N. Test expresses all the reason to become an organ donor:
To Remember Me
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain agianst her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
Final Argument (posted April 20 -- Peer Response April 23)
Sierra Singleton AP Language Mr. Johnson April 20th, 2012 Be a Life Saver There comes a time when death takes over and one life may end. The thought of death is never a want, but one can leave this world knowing they helped one person or multiple people in need. Many people fail to know the number of lives that can be saved by becoming an organ donor. By doing so, “you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” The ratio of it being for every one person, they can save eight lives, sounds impossible, but also brings a tremendous amount of joy to know you can give a sense of rebirth to another person. It remains unfortunate that “thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” Only one person has the power to make a change and be a person to save a life or change a life. One may not realize the number of people that get added to the list of needing an organ donor. “On average, 18 people die each day because of the shortage of donated organs (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Just by seeing the statistics of the amount of deaths that are taking place can only make a huge impact on how people may view organ donating. Just recently, “in 2010, a total of 6,521 patients died while waiting for organ transplants (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Why make an innocent person wait so long and suffer because you decide that donating organs are not important? Many questions linger in the midst of making the decision to say yes or no. Be the one to challenge oneself to be that hero in someone’s life and help them live another day. Some may argue that religion and beliefs interfere with being an organ donor. Yes, which stands as true and it could become a road block in one’s decision making. “In Shinto, the dead body is considered to be impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful (Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 4th ed., 2000.).” Being a part of the Shinto religion, it persists of beliefs that wrongly interfering with a dead body can interfere with the relationship of the person and their loved ones. In this particular situation I can see how one may second guess on becoming a donator or not. Knowing that religion and beliefs are what make a person who they are, it is known to subsist as a legitimate reason of not becoming a donor. A myth that carries out amongst people is that if a doctor was to discover that one acts of an organ donor that they would not work hard to save their life. This does not obtain the truth. A professional doctor works there to do their job and fulfill the needs of any patient. Most likely, the doctors that treat patients are not the ones who do the transplants or have anything to do with organ donating. They may not even know that one is a registered donor. Do not fear becoming an organ donor. Yes, it holds importance that one gets the assistance you need, but when that day comes where life is not lived anymore, someone has to take the chance of being a hero to a stranger. For some there accounts for not that much time left on the clock. Clocks tick forever, but once the batteries stop, so does life. This brings me to a movie called Seven Pounds, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith, a tremendous role model for the acting world. This movie explains the ultimate reason of how emotions will feel your entire body with pride and joy that one may have it good, but another cannot see or cannot breathe. Will Smith plays the part of the donor. He is reminded constantly of the accident he caused while texting and takes it upon himself to repay back the lives that he killed, which were his wife and six others. Living with pain and grief, Will Smith finds seven people that are in need of transplants right away and without any intentions, he begins to fall in love with a woman with a severe heart condition. As time passed he realized time is running out and commits suicide by dumping a tub full of jellyfish into an ice bath that he sat in. The organs were donated to seven people that he discovered and to the woman he fell in love with. He lived a full life. The movie gave a sense of courage to know that saving a life consist of much more than just donating an organ, it has a tremendous effect on the patient. His reasoning behind becoming a donator gave a sense of emotion that persuaded me to continue as an organ donor. You were given a life to live, so why not help another life live? To save a life is to live a life. So live your life and become a donor to help tackle the list of people that keeps growing non-stop. This poem by Robert N. Test expresses all the reason to become an organ donor:
To Remember Me The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped. When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives. Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman. Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain. Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week. Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk. Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain agianst her window. Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow. If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man. Give my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
Reflection #3 (posted April 23)
Reflection: I feel like my paper is fairly strong and has a clear claim. I think my citations could have been cited better and could have used more figurative language. I think overall this is one of my beat papers.
Fellow Peers and Mr. Johnson -
I don't do much of introducing myself; It is very difficult to describe myself to people. In a sense, I rather let my personality speak for itself. For the most part I would describe myself as a student-athlete, but other than that I'm a person who loves summer time and lots of sun. As for being a student, I have high goals of succeeding above average grades and also taking challenging classes that force me to be more creative than usual. Generally I keep my grades to mostly A's and a couple of B's, keeping my GPA high and manageable. One good thing that I can say that saves me every time school gets hard is being blessed with such an attitude that won't allow myself to be satisfied with an average grade; I absolutely love it! I find it easier to be an athlete when I have that attitude that helps me stay active and on top of things. As far as being an athlete, I love sports. When I hear the word "sports" I hear my name too. I don't think I can live without playing a sport. I find myself to be very active and energetic and playing sports definitely fulfills those callings. I play basketball, which is my all time favorite sport, volleyball, and for three years I ran track. Most importantly I take basketball to heart because I am a decent player who has a lot of potential to become great; Not only is it important because of my abilities, but it also teaches many life lessons that could help influence young kids/adults like me to handle life in an adultly manner. Basketball has become very welcoming to me as the years pass all because of the great support from family and having a coach who cares plenty about each individuals success. This has all brought me a long way in my high school career.
Other than school and sports, I love the summer with lots of swimming and tanning! I also enjoy going on family vacations and spending time with teammates and close friends. Usually I will spend the summer working out and swimming but this summer I will be spending it rehabbing, getting my foot back in shape for sports. I look forward to getting healthy since I am so called "injury prone", only the worst thing to be. Although my summer will probably pass me by, I plan to get prepared for my senior year and make the most of it! For fun, I love to dance and sing! For 12 years I danced at Betty Hill Studios dancing the ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical. I enjoyed that a lot but soon I grew out of it. I still stick around the Isiserettes Drill Team when I am not busy with sports. Since this drill team is a family business, I was born into it and learned to love the dancing style.
Getting a little more detailed, I live with my parents Anna and Jay and I have a younger brother by the name of Jayden. My mom is full Mexican and my dad is African-American which make me and my brother "blaxican" in my eyes. We have a really close family that celebrates and parties together all the time. I come from a very bubbly, intelligent, and respectful family. When my family gets together there is always some type of comedy show and much laughter to the party. I can say the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree because I get it honestly. Although we love to party, the way we all were raised, we are taught to be respectful at all times because the more you give respect, sometime in life it will come back in return. I learned from a very wise family and see myself going far in the future.
Now, going into second semester, I want to be able to say I became a better writer. I also want to say my comprehension and understanding of the passages and books we read has gotten better. For me, it is hard to really say what I look forward to because I don't see myself as a strong writer nor a person who likes to read so this class is a challenge for me. In the long run I believe that this class will benefit me but as for now I need to catch onto being more creative with my thoughts. Once I learn that I know I will be able to achieve easier.
- Sierra Singleton
Personal Reflection on Topic of Inquiry(posted January 27 -- Peer Response January 29)
When I was told that we needed a topic of interest that made you want to go into the deeper meaning or deeper problem, I was stuck on how I was going to come up with the topic and didn't know what really sparked for me. It's hard for me to find things that are interesting and grab my attention because I'm more of an athlete than anything so all the vocabulary I speak or hear is all sport terms. this time I decided to get away from sports and think about my background and the importance behind it.
This idea first came from when we read a passage in class about Mexicans who migrated to the United States. They were being mistreated and looked down upon just because they are from somewhere else. I feel that this is wrong and people who think it's okay are selfish people who fail to notice they are human just like the rest of us. Also, I think about my mom and how she is mistreated in her work place because they feel Mexicans are dumber than the average American person. This brings anger to me because this is who I am and these people think it's okay to disrespect the life of someone just because they aren't originally from the United States. What people fail to notice is that they have to live, eat, work, and earn money just like they do; They have the same responsibilities that they do; All in all, they deserve another chance at life but we fail to welcome them and let them attempt to succeed.
My topic of inquiry is based off of immigration, misjudgment of culture and race, and societys outlook on immigration. For me being part African-American and part Mexican I find it to be a great topic that brings out my pride in my race and culture. My question is why do people blame immigrants for taking jobs they need or for making money they want? Why so quick to judge a person from somewhere else and say they don't deserve a second chance at life? Why can't we be a support system to all the different people in the world that are trying to make the best of themselves?
Peer Response: I love the idea of your topic. No body ever really thinks about the problems that immigrants face when coming to a new country. It can be very challenging dealing with the ignorance of people. I know that at very rare times during 2001, our family felt a touch of that, but it's never been a huge problem and vie never thought about it. This topic will really open the eyes of some of the more niave people.
Rough Draft Definition (posted February 3 -- Peer Response February 5)
Sierra Singleton
Mr. Johnson
AP Lang
February 3, 2012
Immigration
It seems that anywhere you go or look, you can always run into a person that is not from the U.S. We simply call those people immigrants. An immigrant is a person who is born in a specific country and relocates to another country for permanent residence. These people usually are of different culture, language, and race than the people in the U.S., but since immigration has become a popular “problem”, some people may not differ at all. Immigrants often experience mistreatment, quick judgment, and lack of support just because they are different and from somewhere else. People may refer to an immigrant as a “alien”, which is just a harsher way of describing them; Who would want to be referred as an alien? Things that an immigrant may go through are not the greatest but most will deal with the negativity from people and society to survive in the new country they have relocated in.
Most immigrants are put in a situation where societies are against migration and having people in a country that were not originally from there. It seems like a lot of people feel the need to criticize a persons likings or life because they do not speak good enough English for them or cannot meet their expectations of what a person may picture wealthy or attractive. As an immigrant, they may have a strong accent from your original language but when they speak English it is not considered proper. Immigrants are of a different language but why is it so hard to give them credit for attempting to speak English? No one said they had to but as an immigrant it is their responsibility to adapt to the new environment that they are now living in. Every now and then you may hear statements from angered U.S. citizens saying “If you can't speak proper English then go back to where you came from” or “You don't belong here”. Comments like these lead to low self esteem in a person, which is not good from someone who is new to living in a country.
If you think hard about when you first meet a person you will first, or if not first you will eventually wonder what race they are. You will probably compare their skin color to your own in your mind and try to match up what country they look like their from. Yes, they are different in appearance but are they necessarily different? They work, eat, sleep, drink, and breathe just like any other person would, so what makes an immigrant truly different? I guess it is true that now-a-days an immigrant does have to “prove” themselves to others that they are contributing to the laws of the country and trying to live a life like an average American would. Not only do they have to change ways of life but they may have to change or readjust their cultural ways only because Americans unfortunately would not see it as normal. An immigrant has a responsibility of giving themselves a better life and that may include changing some things of the way they used to live.
On their journey to a new country, they have to think of a way of how they are going to support themselves or maybe a family if they have such. Usually when a person migrates to another country they are looking for a better outlook on life and another chance at life. Being an immigrant you may need more schooling to get a decent job or to even have a career, but either way jobs are needed. There seem to be plenty of situations where an American complains of the loss of job selections because immigrants take all the opportunities. If you are smart enough you would know that they worked just as hard as you or maybe even harder to put their name out there for the job. Immigrants have to literally prove themselves and show how committed they are especially if schooling is low. What people fail to know or see is that immigrants lack a support system and need people to encourage them to do better and live better. Again, they are a human being just like all the people that live in this world so they deserve every chance they can get just like us Americans take advantage of what comes to us. As an immigrant it just comes much harder.
Living a different life with a different language and a different culture does not make you different. In society, the outlook on immigrants is that they are originally from a country and try to come to another country to start a life that may ruin the people that were born there. An immigrant is only a person of physical differences from a country migrating to another. Most people will have their opinions but the truth is they are human and should not be mistaken as not “normal” or looked down upon because they are not exactly like the average American. They are only trying to live their life like anyone would want to.
Peer Response: I like the essay. It really goes deeper on how people are treated and the names they can be called. I also like how there is a slight tone of anger to it. It tells me that you you are not only saying it makes you angry in your topic of inquiry, but let's me know in the essay that it does make you mad. I also like how you talk about the reason they come to America and how, even though Americans don't see it, they work just as hard.
I feel like there is some weak vocabulary scattered around that can be changed, for example, in paragraph 4, when talking about how they could use a support system, the phrase 'is that' could maybe be changed and the 'just like all the people' could be a little stringer. Other than that, it's amazing for a rough draft. I really love the topic and you're essay kept me interested throughout the entire thing. Amazing job!
Sources:
-personal experience
-dictionary
Revision Definition (posted February 10 -- Peer Response February 12 )
Sierra Singleton
Mr. Johnson
AP Lang
February 10, 2012
Immigration
It seems that anywhere you go or look, you can always run into a person that is not from the U.S. We simply call those people immigrants. An immigrant is a person who is born in a specific country and relocates to another country for permanent residence. These people usually are of different culture, language, and race than the people in the U.S., but since immigration has become a popular “problem”, some people may not differ at all. Immigrants often experience mistreatment, quick judgment, and lack of support just because they are different and from somewhere else. People may refer to an immigrant as a “alien”, which is just a harsher way of describing them; Who would want to be referred as an alien? Things that an immigrant may go through are not the greatest but most will deal with the negativity from people and society to survive in the new country they have relocated in.
Most immigrants are put in a situation where societies are against migration and having people in a country that were not originally from there. It seems like a lot of people feel the need to criticize a persons likings or life because they do not speak good enough English for them or cannot meet their expectations of what a person may picture wealthy or attractive. As an immigrant, they may have a strong accent from your original language but when they speak English it is not considered proper. Immigrants are of a different language but why is it so hard to give them credit for attempting to speak English? No one said they had to but as an immigrant it is their responsibility to adapt to the new environment that they are now living in. Every now and then you may hear statements from angered U.S. citizens saying “If you can't speak proper English then go back to where you came from” or “You don't belong here”. Comments like these lead to low self esteem in a person, which is not good from someone who is new to living in a country.
If you think about when you first meet a person you will first, or if not first you will eventually wonder what race they are. You will probably compare their skin color to your own in your mind and try to match up what country they look like their from. Yes, they are different in appearance but are they necessarily different? They work, eat, sleep, drink, and breathe just like any other person would, so what makes an immigrant truly different? I guess it is true that now-a-days an immigrant does have to “prove” themselves to others that they are contributing to the laws of the country and trying to live a life like an average American would. Not only do they have to change ways of life but they may have to change or readjust their cultural ways only because Americans unfortunately would not see it as normal. An immigrant has a responsibility of giving themselves a better life and that may include changing some things of the way they used to live.
On their journey to a new country, they have to think of a way of how they are going to support themselves or maybe a family if they have such. Usually when a person migrates to another country they are looking for a better outlook on life and another chance at life. Being an immigrant you may need more schooling to get a decent job or to even have a career, but either way jobs are needed. There seem to be plenty of situations where an American complains of the loss of job selections because immigrants take all the opportunities. If you are smart enough you would know that they worked just as hard as you or maybe even harder to put their name out there for the job. Immigrants have to literally prove themselves and show how committed they are especially if schooling is low. What people fail to know or see is that immigrants lack the support from society as a whole and need people to encourage them to do better and live better. Again, they are a human being and considered "normal" in all new eyes, at least they should be, so they deserve every chance they can get just like us Americans take advantage of what comes to us. As an immigrant it just comes much harder.
Through personal experience, my mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to the U.S. when she was four. It took me awhile to fully comprehend on the fact that I was part Mexican and part African-American. Either way you really look at it now, both races can be thought of as the "trouble making" or "not so smart" races because that is how society may view it, but being Mexican it makes it a little harder. I remember starting to care about my race in the 8th grade; that was when it was popular in my life. While so curious, my mother didn't seem so enthused to answer all the questions I had. That's when I realized her past and present wasn't the greatest. How people viewed her was less than the regular and assumed she wasn't smart as the average. As your parents child you began to feel angered by the situation and want to change the outlook on immigrants. There is no reason to reminisce on the past when they strive to make a better future. Never underestimate the talents of someone you don't know.
Living a different life with a different language and a different culture does not make you different. In society, the outlook on immigrants is that they are originally from a country and try to come to another country to start a life that may ruin the people that were born there. An immigrant is only a person of physical differences from a country migrating to another. Most people will have their opinions but the truth is they are human and should not be mistaken as not “normal” or looked down upon because they are not exactly like the average American. They are only trying to live their life like anyone would want to.
Final Definition (posted February 17 -- Peer Response February 19 )
Immigration
It seems that anywhere one person may go or look, they can always run into a person that is not from the U.S. They are simply called immigrants. An immigrant is a person who is born in a specific country and relocates to another country for permanent residence. These people usually are of different culture, language, and race than the people in the U.S., but since immigration has become a popular “problem”, some people may not differ at all. Immigrants often experience mistreatment, quick judgment, and lack of support just because they are different and from somewhere else. People may refer to an immigrant as a “alien”, which is just a harsher way of describing them; Who would want to be referred as an alien? Things that an immigrant may go through are not the greatest but most will deal with the negativity from people and society to survive in the new country they have relocated in.
Most immigrants are put in a situation where societies are against migration and having people in a country that were not originally from there. It seems like many people feel the need to criticize a persons likings or life because they do not speak good enough English for them or cannot meet their expectations of what a person may picture wealthy or attractive. As an immigrant, they may have a strong accent from their original language but when they speak English it is not considered proper. Immigrants are of a different language but why is it so hard to give them credit for attempting to speak English? No one said they had to but as an immigrant it is their responsibility to adapt to the new environment that they are now living in. Every now and then one may hear statements from angered U.S. citizens saying “If you can't speak proper English then go back to where you came from” or “You don't belong here”. Comments like these lead to low self esteem or depression in a person, which is not healthy for someone who is new to living in a certain country.
If one would think about when they first meet a person they will first, or if not first they will eventually wonder what race they are. One will probably compare an immigrants skin color to their own in their mind and try to match up what country the immigrant looks like their from. Yes, they are different in appearance but are they necessarily different? They work, eat, sleep, drink, and breathe just like any other person would, so what makes an immigrant truly different? I guess it is true that now-a-days an immigrant does have to “prove” themselves to others that they are contributing to the laws of the country and trying to live a life like an average American would. Not only do they have to change ways of life but they may have to change or readjust their cultural ways only because Americans unfortunately would not see it as normal. An immigrant has a responsibility of giving themselves a better life and that may include changing some things of the way they used to live.
On their journey to a new country, an immigrant has to think of how they are going to support themselves or maybe a family if they have such. Usually when a person migrates to another country they are looking for a better outlook on life and another chance at life. Being an immigrant you may need more schooling to get a decent job or to even have a career, but either way jobs are needed. There seem to be plenty of situations where an American complains of the loss of job selections because immigrants take all the opportunities. If you are smart enough you would know that they worked just as hard as you or maybe even harder to put their name out there for the job. Immigrants have to literally prove themselves and show how committed they are especially if schooling is low. What people fail to know or see is that immigrants lack the support from society as a whole and need people to encourage them to do better and live better. Again, they are a human being and considered "normal" in all new eyes, at least they should be, so they deserve every chance they can get just like Americans take advantage of what comes to them. As an immigrant it just comes much harder.
Through personal experience, my mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to the U.S. when she was four. It took me awhile to fully comprehend on the fact that I was part Mexican and part African-American. Either way you really look at it now, both races can be thought of as the "trouble making" or "not so smart" races because that is how society may view it, but being Mexican it makes it a little harder. I remember starting to care about my race in the 8th grade; that was when it was popular in my life. While so curious, my mother didn't seem so enthused to answer all the questions I had. That's when I realized her past and present wasn't the greatest. How people viewed her was less than the regular and assumed she wasn't smart as the average. As your parents child you began to feel angered by the situation and want to change the outlook on immigrants. There is no reason to reminisce on the past when they strive to make a better future. Never underestimate the talents of someone you don't know.
Living a different life with a different language and a different culture does not make a person different. In society, the outlook on immigrants is that they are originally from a country and try to come to another country to start a life that may ruin the people that were born there. An immigrant is only a person of physical differences from a country migrating to another. Most people will have their opinions but the truth is they are human and should not be mistaken as not “normal” or looked down upon because they are not exactly like the average American. They are only trying to live their life like anyone would want to.
Reflection #1 (posted February 20 -- Peer Response February 22)
Reflection:
I think that I had very well thought out topic and that it had great ideas that came out of it. I think that there could have been more examples that could've backed up the idea since I do have a mother that was an immigrant but recently got her citizenship. I know that I need to learn how to get more deeper into my thought process in order to retain the readers attention throughout my essay.
Rough Draft Comparison (posted February 24 -- Peer Response February 26 )
As everyone knows, society has put an emphasis on gender roles and what is expected out of a man and a woman. Most know that women are the ones who are working in the kitchen, taking care of children, and cleaning around the house. Men are most known to be sports fanatics and yard work smart, than known to have a lot of knowledge on doing a women's job. Some people still believe in that way of living, but as time passed, things have changed greatly. Now we may see a man and woman sharing duties as parents to help take care of children or even just simply cleaning around the house. It's not always just a women's or just a man's job; they can be equally distributed between both mother and father who should know how to take care of themselves and/or children, as if they were a single parent.
According to society, we find a woman that is always in the kitchen, taking care of kids and cleaning everything. Back when a woman didn't have any rights, they were stuck being maids and servants, only pleasing other people. Ever since then a woman's worth has been based on the past and what society believed a woman was capable of doing. A woman had a different type of role in life than a man did, but it seemed that a woman had a role that only a woman could understand. One would see a woman as maybe the stay at home mom, who did laundry all day until it was time for the kids to get out of school, then once they got home, the woman would be locked in the kitchen making dinner for the whole family. Now, on top of those jobs, some mothers have to work because they don't have the support to be a stay at home mom. Therefore, women are wearing themselves out by doing so much in one day. Some women are okay with it because it is said to be the women's role, but some feel that they can use more help than what is given. In the end it's just what the person may believe about gender roles and how they will decide to distribute each task.
In my household, one could find my mother cleaning, cooking sometimes, doing yard work, and running my brother and I around to our extra activities. My mom somewhat follows what a women's role is according to society, but then again if she needed that extra help from my father, it wouldn't be a problem. A normal life for my mother is basically working enough hours to help take care of her family, clean when needed, do yard work as a family, cook (not all the time), and take care of my brother and I. She is not alone to do every little thing on her own because it's her role; she gets the help she needs when it's needed whether if it's from my father or my brother and I. Nothing is ever done by one person and one person only. As a family, we all believe that we should help each other out as much as possible, especially my brother and I because it is just a way to show that we work hard to help, which makes it easier for my parents to let us do more extra activities.
On the other hand, men are way different, as society may say. One may see a man as the protector and the one that does all the labor work that is needed to be done. Men are said to be the ones that are sent off to make the money and provide for a family. Back then, men didn't seem to help much with children but to help discipline and care for them. They also weren't educated about how to work in the kitchen or clean; it just wasn't in their nature of things. Some men find it hard and non- manly to do jobs that are meant for a woman, which make it harder for a man to even attempt to try the job. Most men are used to carrying heavy loads and providing for a family, so when opportunities come to men of learning different parts of a women's role, it's hard for a man to accept the challenge.
Again, I find my father to be part of the typical man that society sees a man as, but there are definitely things that make him stand out from the regular man. Yes, my father does do what the regular man would do, but he also has a wide variety of talents that allow him to do more. Sadly, some people say their dad doesn't find himself in the kitchen, but fortunately, my dad is an amazing cook on the grill and in the kitchen. Also, my dad is big on being an athlete because it runs in the family, so he is very supportive when it comes to my brother and I and our activities. Instead of leaving the running around to my mom, my dad is usually the one that does the running around except not so much with me since I have a car now. Other than that, my dad finds it in him to be a disciplinarian and role model for my brother and I and shows that if you put your mind into something, we can do anything with hard work.
There are many differences from how gender roles are played out now then from how they were years ago. Some people still believe in the old way of things, but in today's society I think each gender should have jobs equally distributed between both woman and man.
Peer response: I feel like this doesn't stick to your original topic, which I thought we were meant to stay with, but other than that, I loved the idea of it. I feel like woman don't get the respect they deserve. It's still hard to believe that woman only get 70 cents to every man's dollar. I think this is going to come out very well written and extremely necessarily.
Revision Comparison (posted March 2 -- Peer Response March 4)
As everyone knows, society has put an emphasis on gender roles and what is expected out of a man and a woman. Most know that women are the ones who are working in the kitchen, taking care of children, and cleaning around the house. Men are most known to be sports fanatics and yard work smart, than known to have a lot of knowledge on doing a women's job. Some people still believe in that way of living, but as time passed, things have changed greatly. Now we may see a man and woman sharing duties as parents to help take care of children or even just simply cleaning around the house. It's not always just a women's or just a man's job; they can be equally distributed between both mother and father who should know how to take care of themselves and/or children, as if they were a single parent.
According to society, we find a woman that is always in the kitchen, taking care of kids and cleaning everything. Back when a woman didn't have any rights, they were stuck being maids and servants, only pleasing other people. Ever since then a woman's worth has been based on the past and what society believed a woman was capable of doing. A woman had a different type of role in life than a man did, but it seemed that a woman had a role that only a woman could understand. One would see a woman as maybe the stay at home mom, who did laundry all day until it was time for the kids to get out of school, then once they got home, the woman would be locked in the kitchen making dinner for the whole family. Now, on top of those jobs, some mothers have to work because they don't have the support to be a stay at home mom. Therefore, women are wearing themselves out by doing so much in one day. Some women are okay with it because it is said to be the women's role, but some feel that they can use more help than what is given. In the end it's just what the person may believe about gender roles and how they will decide to distribute each task.
In my household, one could find my mother cleaning, cooking sometimes, doing yard work, and running my brother and I around to our extra activities. My mom somewhat follows what a women's role is according to society, but then again if she needed that extra help from my father, it wouldn't be a problem. A normal life for my mother is basically working enough hours to help take care of her family, clean when needed, do yard work as a family, cook (not all the time), and take care of my brother and I. She is not alone to do every little thing on her own because it's her role; she gets the help she needs when it's needed whether if it's from my father or my brother and I. Nothing is ever done by one person and one person only. As a family, we all believe that we should help each other out as much as possible, especially my brother and I because it is just a way to show that we work hard to help, which makes it easier for my parents to let us do more extra activities.
On the other hand, men are way different, as society may say. One may see a man as the protector and the one that does all the labor work that is needed to be done. Men are said to be the ones that are sent off to make the money and provide for a family. Back then, men didn't seem to help much with children but to help discipline and care for them. They also weren't educated about how to work in the kitchen or clean; it just wasn't in their nature of things. Some men find it hard and non- manly to do jobs that are meant for a woman, which make it harder for a man to even attempt to try the job. Most men are used to carrying heavy loads and providing for a family, so when opportunities come to men of learning different parts of a women's role, it's hard for a man to accept the challenge.
Again, I find my father to be part of the typical man that society sees a man as, but there are definitely things that make him stand out from the regular man. Yes, my father does do what the regular man would do, but he also has a wide variety of talents that allow him to do more. Sadly, some people say their dad doesn't find himself in the kitchen, but fortunately, my dad is an amazing cook on the grill and in the kitchen. Also, my dad is big on being an athlete because it runs in the family, so he is very supportive when it comes to my brother and I and our activities. Instead of leaving the running around to my mom, my dad is usually the one that does the running around except not so much with me since I have a car now. Other than that, my dad finds it in him to be a disciplinarian and role model for my brother and I and shows that if you put your mind into something, we can do anything with hard work.
There are many differences from how gender roles are played out now then from how they were years ago. Some people still believe in the old way of things, but in today's society I think each gender should have jobs equally distributed between both woman and man.
Final Comparison (posted March 9 -- Peer Response March 11)
As everyone knows, society has put an emphasis on gender roles and what is expected out of a man and a woman. Most know that women are the ones who work in the kitchen, take care of children, and clean around the house. Men are most known as the sports fanatics and "yard work" smart, rather than known to have a load of knowledge on performing a women's role. Some people still believe in that way of living, but as time passed, things have changed greatly. Now we may see a man and woman sharing roles as parents to help take care of children or even just simply improving the way they live. It's not always just a women's or just a man's role; they should be equally distributed between both mother and father, who should know how to take care of themselves and/or children, as if they were a single parent.
According to Cliff Notes, a woman is suppose to marry,have children, put her family's welfare before her own, and be nuturing. Back when a woman didn't have any rights, they were stuck being maids and servants, only pleasing other people. Ever since then a woman's worth has been based on the past and what society believed a woman was capable of doing. A woman had a different type of role in life than a man did, but it seemed that a woman had a role that only a woman could understand. One would see a woman as maybe the stay at home mom, who did laundry all day until it was time for the kids to get out of school, then once they got home, the woman would be locked in the kitchen making dinner for the whole family. Now, on top of those jobs, some mothers have to work because they don't have the support to be a stay at home mom. Therefore, women are wearing themselves out by doing so much in one day. Some women are okay with it because it is said to be the women's role, but some feel that they can use more help than what is given. In the end it's just what the person may believe about gender roles and how they will decide to distribute each task.
In my household, one could find my mother cleaning, cooking sometimes, doing yard work, and running my brother and I around to our extra activities. My mom somewhat follows what a women's role is according to society, but then again if she needed that extra help from my father, it wouldn't be a problem. A normal life for my mother is basically working enough hours to help take care of her family, clean when needed, do yard work as a family, cook (not all the time), and take care of my brother and I. She is not alone to do every little thing on her own because it's her role; she gets the help she needs when it's needed whether if it's from my father or my brother and I. Nothing is ever done by one person and one person only. As a family, we all believe that we should help each other out as much as possible, especially my brother and I because it is just a way to show that we work hard to help, which makes it easier for my parents to let us do more extra activities.
On the other hand, men are way different, as society may say. According to Cliff Notes, a man is said to be the financial provider, also, assertive, competitive, independent, and courageous. Men are the ones who will protect when needed and be the stable building block for the family. Back then, men didn't seem to help much with children but to help discipline and care for them. They also weren't educated about how to work in the kitchen or clean; it just wasn't in their nature of things. Some men find it hard and non- manly to do jobs that are meant for a woman, which make it harder for a man to even attempt to try the job. Most men are used to carrying heavy loads and providing for a family, so when opportunities come to men of learning different parts of a women's role, it's hard for a man to accept the challenge.
Again, I find my father to be part of the typical man that society sees a man as, but there are definitely things that make him stand out from the regular man. Yes, my father does do what the regular man would do, but he also has a wide variety of talents that allow him to do more. Sadly, some people say their dad doesn't find himself in the kitchen, but fortunately, my dad is an amazing cook on the grill and in the kitchen. Also, my dad is big on being an athlete because it runs in the family, so he is very supportive when it comes to my brother and I and our activities. Instead of leaving the running around to my mom, my dad is usually the one that does the running around except not so much with me since I have a car now. Other than that, my dad finds it in him to be a disciplinarian and role model for my brother and I and shows that if you put your mind into something, we can do anything with hard work.
There are many differences from how gender roles are played out now then from how they were years ago. Some people still believe in the old way of things, but in today's society I think each gender should have jobs equally distributed between both woman and man. When doing so, not only does it relieve stress, but it also will be more convenient. The way society classifies a man and woman into gender roles has greatly changed, but with time, gender roles can make a run for becoming more equal than they have ever been. Gender roles should not be decided by society; they should be equally shared roles that help ease the life for which one lives.
Peer Response: I love the idea of gender roles. It is a cause that I know isn't talked about, but this topic needs to be. I like how you talked about the stereotypical masculine things woman do and the stereotypical feminine things men do. The grammar and spelling, I think, are much better that the last paper. I don't see as many weak words. I think this is a huge improvement from the last paper. Keep it up.
Reflection #2 (posted March 16 -- Peer Response March 25)
Personal Reflection: i feel like i had strong ideas in mind, but didn't know how to express it all in writing. i feel like it could've been stronger with more time and advice. Then again maybe this wasn't the best topic for a compare and contrast paper. I also think that as i keep writing that i start to feel better about what i write and have more confidence in my writing and not saying that my writing is anywhere near good, but i feel that it is improving in time. English is just one of those classes for me that i have to work a little harder than what i work in other classes.
Rough Draft Argument (posted April 6 -- Peer Response April 8)
Be a Life Saver
There comes a time when death takes over and one life may end. The thought of death is never a want, but one can leave this world knowing they helped one person or multiple people in need. Many people fail to have the knowledge of knowing the number of lives that can be saved by becoming an organ donor. By doing so, “you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” The ratio of it being for every one person, they can save eight lives, sounds impossible, but also brings a tremendous amount of joy to know you can give a sense of rebirth to another person. It’s unfortunate that “thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” Only one person has the power to make a change and be a person to save a life or change a life.
One may not realize the number of people that get added to the list of needing an organ donor. “On average, 18 people die each day because of the shortage of donated organs (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Just by seeing the statistics of the amount of deaths that are taking place can only make a huge impact on how people may view organ donating. Just recently, “in 2010, a total of 6,521 patients died while waiting for organ transplants (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Why make an innocent person wait so long and suffer because you decide that donating organs are not important? Many questions linger in the midst of making the decision to say yes or no. Be the one to challenge oneself to be that hero in someone’s life and help them live another day.
Some may argue that religion and beliefs interfere with being an organ donor. Yes, that is true and it could become a road block in one’s decision making. “In Shinto, the dead body is considered to be impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful (Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 4th ed., 2000.).” Being a part of the Shinto religion, it is believed that messing with a dead body can interfere with the relationship of the person and their loved ones. In this particular situation I can see how one may second guess on becoming a donator or not. Knowing that religion and beliefs are what make a person who they are, it is known to be a legitimate reason of not becoming a donor.
This poem by Robert N. Test expresses all the reason to become an organ donor:
To Remember Me
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain agianst her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
*I am going to add more but have to find other key points on what i want to talk about to support my argument.
Peer response: Wow! When I first saw the title, I was a little stunned, but I love the topic. It really makes me think. I know I've been terrified to think about death and becoming an organ donor and I did it, but I always felt scared. This essay has really made me feel better about the whole situation. I didn't know much about it and this helped. I like how you added in the religious beliefs argument. I had heard that, but not many people wish to address it. I believe that some people get bad looks for not becoming an organ donor, but may not kinow that it's against their religion. This is a great topic and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
Revision Argument (posted April 13 -- Peer Response April 15)
Sierra Singleton
AP Language
Mr. Johnson
April 13th, 2012
Be a Life Saver
There comes a time when death takes over and one life may end. The thought of death is never a want, but one can leave this world knowing they helped one person or multiple people in need. Many people fail to have the knowledge of knowing the number of lives that can be saved by becoming an organ donor. By doing so, “you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” The ratio of it being for every one person, they can save eight lives, sounds impossible, but also brings a tremendous amount of joy to know you can give a sense of rebirth to another person. It’s unfortunate that “thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” Only one person has the power to make a change and be a person to save a life or change a life.
One may not realize the number of people that get added to the list of needing an organ donor. “On average, 18 people die each day because of the shortage of donated organs (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Just by seeing the statistics of the amount of deaths that are taking place can only make a huge impact on how people may view organ donating. Just recently, “in 2010, a total of 6,521 patients died while waiting for organ transplants (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Why make an innocent person wait so long and suffer because you decide that donating organs are not important? Many questions linger in the midst of making the decision to say yes or no. Be the one to challenge oneself to be that hero in someone’s life and help them live another day.
Some may argue that religion and beliefs interfere with being an organ donor. Yes, that is true and it could become a road block in one’s decision making. “In Shinto, the dead body is considered to be impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful (Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 4th ed., 2000.).” Being a part of the Shinto religion, it is believed that messing with a dead body can interfere with the relationship of the person and their loved ones. In this particular situation I can see how one may second guess on becoming a donator or not. Knowing that religion and beliefs are what make a person who they are, it is known to be a legitimate reason of not becoming a donor.
A myth that carries out amongst people is that if a doctor was to discover that one is an organ donor that they would not work hard to save their life. This is not true. A professional doctor is there to do their job and fulfill the needs of any patient. Most likely, the doctors that treat patients are not the ones who do the transplants or have anything to do with organ donating. They may not even know that you are a registered donor. Do not fear becoming an organ donor. Yes, it is important that you get the assistance you need, but when that day comes where life is not lived anymore, someone has to take the chance of being a hero to a stranger. For some there isn’t that much time left on the clock. Clocks tick forever, but once the batteries stop, so does life.
This brings me to a movie called Seven Pounds, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith, a tremendous role model for the acting world. This movie explains the ultimate reason of how emotions will feel your entire body with pride and joy that one may have it good, but another cannot see or cannot breathe. Will Smith plays the part of the donor. He is reminded constantly of the accident he caused while texting and takes it upon himself to repay back the lives that he killed, which were his wife and six others. Living with pain and grief, Will Smith finds seven people that are in need of transplants right away and without any intentions, he begins to fall in love with a woman with a severe heart condition. As time passed he realized time is running out and commits suicide by dumping a tub full of jellyfish into an ice bath that he sat in. The organs were donated to seven people that he discovered and to the woman he fell in love with.
The movie gave a sense of courage to know that saving a life is much more than just donating an organ, it has a tremendous effect on the patient. His reasoning behind becoming a donator gave a sense of emotion that persuaded me to continue to be an organ donor. You were given a life to live, so why not help another life live? To save a life is to live a life. So live your life and become a donor to help tackle the list of people that keeps growing.
This poem by Robert N. Test expresses all the reason to become an organ donor:
To Remember Me
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain agianst her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
Final Argument (posted April 20 -- Peer Response April 23)
Sierra Singleton
AP Language
Mr. Johnson
April 20th, 2012
Be a Life Saver
There comes a time when death takes over and one life may end. The thought of death is never a want, but one can leave this world knowing they helped one person or multiple people in need. Many people fail to know the number of lives that can be saved by becoming an organ donor. By doing so, “you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” The ratio of it being for every one person, they can save eight lives, sounds impossible, but also brings a tremendous amount of joy to know you can give a sense of rebirth to another person. It remains unfortunate that “thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).” Only one person has the power to make a change and be a person to save a life or change a life.
One may not realize the number of people that get added to the list of needing an organ donor. “On average, 18 people die each day because of the shortage of donated organs (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Just by seeing the statistics of the amount of deaths that are taking place can only make a huge impact on how people may view organ donating. Just recently, “in 2010, a total of 6,521 patients died while waiting for organ transplants (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network).” Why make an innocent person wait so long and suffer because you decide that donating organs are not important? Many questions linger in the midst of making the decision to say yes or no. Be the one to challenge oneself to be that hero in someone’s life and help them live another day.
Some may argue that religion and beliefs interfere with being an organ donor. Yes, which stands as true and it could become a road block in one’s decision making. “In Shinto, the dead body is considered to be impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful (Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 4th ed., 2000.).” Being a part of the Shinto religion, it persists of beliefs that wrongly interfering with a dead body can interfere with the relationship of the person and their loved ones. In this particular situation I can see how one may second guess on becoming a donator or not. Knowing that religion and beliefs are what make a person who they are, it is known to subsist as a legitimate reason of not becoming a donor.
A myth that carries out amongst people is that if a doctor was to discover that one acts of an organ donor that they would not work hard to save their life. This does not obtain the truth. A professional doctor works there to do their job and fulfill the needs of any patient. Most likely, the doctors that treat patients are not the ones who do the transplants or have anything to do with organ donating. They may not even know that one is a registered donor. Do not fear becoming an organ donor. Yes, it holds importance that one gets the assistance you need, but when that day comes where life is not lived anymore, someone has to take the chance of being a hero to a stranger. For some there accounts for not that much time left on the clock. Clocks tick forever, but once the batteries stop, so does life.
This brings me to a movie called Seven Pounds, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith, a tremendous role model for the acting world. This movie explains the ultimate reason of how emotions will feel your entire body with pride and joy that one may have it good, but another cannot see or cannot breathe. Will Smith plays the part of the donor. He is reminded constantly of the accident he caused while texting and takes it upon himself to repay back the lives that he killed, which were his wife and six others. Living with pain and grief, Will Smith finds seven people that are in need of transplants right away and without any intentions, he begins to fall in love with a woman with a severe heart condition. As time passed he realized time is running out and commits suicide by dumping a tub full of jellyfish into an ice bath that he sat in. The organs were donated to seven people that he discovered and to the woman he fell in love with. He lived a full life.
The movie gave a sense of courage to know that saving a life consist of much more than just donating an organ, it has a tremendous effect on the patient. His reasoning behind becoming a donator gave a sense of emotion that persuaded me to continue as an organ donor. You were given a life to live, so why not help another life live? To save a life is to live a life. So live your life and become a donor to help tackle the list of people that keeps growing non-stop.
This poem by Robert N. Test expresses all the reason to become an organ donor:
To Remember Me
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain agianst her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
Reflection #3 (posted April 23)
Reflection: I feel like my paper is fairly strong and has a clear claim. I think my citations could have been cited better and could have used more figurative language. I think overall this is one of my beat papers.